To Love a Monster
by gege qurban
Summary: Loki Odinson is deeply conflicted. It is time for the tournament of the realms, and of course his brothers, Thor and Balder, shall represent Asgard. One of the competitors just happens to be Odin's arch enemy, and Loki just can't help but to be charmed by this demonic beast. AU. Mix of the comics, movies, and mythology. Slash.


This story does not have a beta, so if you can't stand horrible grammar you should drop this right now. I had a hard time nailing down the character's way of speech, because I'm bad at old english. Loki however has our speech because he reads a lot of our books.

Thor is a man here, about 22, Loki 18, and Balder just came of age so he's now 16.

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Chapter One

It is said that the sons of Odin are the bravest and mightiest warriors that ever walked the nine realms. Two of them that is. The eldest son, Thor, who wields the mighty hammer Mjolnir; who can wipe out an entire village of frost giants with a blink of an eye. And the youngest, Balder, who is brave enough to face the most wicked of enemies with his eyes closed and one arm behind his back. and of course, they are both tall, muscular, and handsome._ Of course._

Does anyone remember the the second prince? One of the most powerful sorcerers that ever walked Asgard? Who rivals Karnilla in her power? Who is clever, witty, and silver-tongued? No. Not at all. He shouldn't even be a sorcerer they say. It is the art of women they say. He spends all of his social time with women, yet never beds them they say. He is an _argr_ they say. Of course. _Of course._

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The young petite man lets out an exhausted sigh. He drops his book and hops out of his oversized messy bed. Stretching, he looks around the room. From the dozens of bookshelf to his left side, to his bed containing a couple of books in the middle, to his far left where his bathing chambers are. Filled with books. _I need to read more books, _he thinks to himself with a grin.

That vanishes however, when the loud noises outside of his balcony disturb him. His room being the second highest tower in Asgard- the first belonging to Heimdall- he can see all the way toward the Bifrost. Opening the glass door of his balcony, he is surprised to see about fifty warriors from all the nine realms marching on their horses and other animals giants use. _Strange, I don't remember a particular event that calls for such a gathering._

Going back inside, he heads toward his closet and fetches one of his finest robes. He looks at the mirror in the bathing rooms and smacks himself on the head. His long raven hair that reaches his hips was messy, and he was wearing shorts and winter boots. _And he walked out of the balcony looking like that. _Loki sighs, and silently hopes that none saw him in this embarrassing appearance. Putting on black trousers, leather boots, and wearing a long black robe with wide sleeves that cover his arms, he performs his teleportation and invisibility spell.

He is soon teleported to the throne room, where hundreds of people are in a rush carrying food, weapons, and papers. He puts his leg in from of his cousin Tyr, who was heading toward his father. He hits the ground brutally, causing a loud "thumb" to echo through the halls. Everyone freeze, look at the general of the royal army, and then go back to their own work as if nothing happened. Loki pouts, disappointed by the lack of response. If it was him, the entire palace would roar with laughter.

"Loki," his cousin hisses, gracefully getting up on his feet. He looks through him, making him slightly nervous. His cousin is a talented warrior, but even he can't detect him through the invisibility spell. "Yes, dear cousin," he replies sweetly, fluttering his long eyelashes as if he can see him. "Loki," the grim voice of his father call, and Loki roles his eyes and dismisses the spell. Odin looks at him, his face grim as always, and gestures to Tyr to come up to his golden throne. Loki, not wanting to appear foolish, flamboyantly inspects his nails, acting as if his father hasn't basically told him to get lost.

He listens to Tyr telling Odin that the competitors all arrived, except mortals, who seem to not answer their invitation, like they have for hundreds of years now. It interests Loki why they invite mortals to anything, for they have ignored them for about seven centuries now. His father nods, and he dismisses his nephew. Tyr climes down, takes his cousin by the elbow, and drags him through the throne room.

"Why is it that you always must try and humiliate your own kin? Is it that difficult to behave thyself?" Tyr asks, letting go of Loki after dragging him to his front. It has been only a fortnight since he last saw his cousin, yet he seems to grow larger. If that is even possible. Tyr is tall, so tall that Loki barely reaches his chest. He claims that he is of normal hight, and that Loki is simply short as a woman, but of course Loki knows otherwise. He has shoulder length raven hair, but not as dark as Loki's. He also has beard, and slight scar on his chin from battle, and he was wearing Asgard's official armor. "Are you listening to me?" he scolds, pinching Loki's cheeks and pulling them with all his might. Loki barley keeps himself from shrieking, but his eyes start to fill with tears. With great effort he pulls Tyr's muscular arms away, and rubs his cheeks gently.

"I love it when you drop the foolish mask of yours," he states with a grin, earning a death glare from the younger man. Regaining his blank expressionless mask, he coughs slightly, "Well, as my most tolerable relative, I belief you earn that simple right. As for trying to humiliate you, it was unintentional." His cousin looks unimpressed, and rolls his eyes with a slight smile. "I am flattered my dear cousin, but I suspect that you being the the sloth you are, you do not know the reason of this gathering of warriors from other realms." At this Loki was annoyed. "You seem to have gained some of my skills Tyr dear, perhaps you should spend more time with women, you do not wish for filthy rumors to spread now do we?"

The older man glares at him, but chooses not to reply to such a comment. He does not care for what people say, the most important things to him are peace and honor. And it disturbs him that his cousin might think in such a way. He is Asgard's least favored prince, that much is true. But such an accusation is considered treason, especially if it's with his own kin. He sighs. Truly, sometimes he wishes that Loki have not saved him when they were boys, that way he would not have known of his cousin's low-self esteem. Then again, he wouldn't be alive at the moment if he haven't, and to that he owes Loki for the rest of his life. "It is time for the tournament of the realms, and this year it is Asgard's turn to be the host," he informs the petite man, returning to the original subject.

Ah, no wonder he forgot about it, his mind must have blocked this abominable event from his memory. This stupid tournament that is nothing but a bunch of brainless assholes trying to show off their battle skills. He growls, earning a smirk from Tyr. "I thought this might be your reaction, and so has the all-father, which is probably why he has not sent a servant to summon you." This bothers Loki, for even if he does despise this tournament, that does not mean he should be excluded from it. Without even glancing at his cousin, he teleports to the training grounds.

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To say that Lady Sif was excited was an understatement. Finally, it has come. The tournaments of the realms is here; her favorite time of century. The smell of sweat and blood, the sounds of clashing blades, the excited loud cheers of the crowds, how can no one be exited for this? Loki. Of course her greatest frenemy would hate it, which makes it all the more better. Fighting, drinking, bedding, and now a chance to annoy the second prince, she can not be happier. She looks across the arena, and spots their resident trickster approaching his laughing brothers and the warriors three. She climbs out of her seat, and jogs toward her friends and frenemy. Arriving on the scene she earns a greeting nod from the trio, and a welcoming grin from two of the princes. "What brings thy here brother? You usually avoid this place with all your might," Thor asked cheerfully, earning a dramatic eye roll from Loki.

Of course Loki would roll his eyes. Happiness and cheerfulness only come to him when he screws with someone. Most of the times it's humorous, other times it's humiliating, but deep down it still makes her laugh. But she shall never admit to such a thing. "I was curios to know who our representatives are," he replies, his voice smooth and his expression unreadable. Typical Loki. Always hiding behind that mask of his. Why can't he be blunt and straightforward like he was as a child? He was rather cute back then. It amazes her just how much he changed, yet still remained the same.

"Ah, why your brothers and friends my dearest trickster," Fandral the dashing replies smugly, and gestures toward all of the group. "Though we still do not know who the other two are," Volstagg adds, drinking his cup of mead. "I belief Tyr might be one of them, the other could be one the Valkyriors," she suggests, she truly hopes for another female in their group. Loki looks unimpressed; he shrugs his shoulders and walk away. "Wait brother," Balder the brave calls, "we shall be introduced to the other warriors this evening, well you attend the feast with us?" he asks hopelessly, knowing that that would be the last thing his older brother would wish to do.

Loki turns to face his younger brother, and Sif can't help but to be amazed every times those two stand next to each other. It is hard to belief that Loki is older than Balder, he reaches his brother's chest, and they look nothing alike. Loki is short, pale, and slender with hair as dark as the night. Balder is tall, fair, and muscular with short brown hair like the all-mother. He looks like Thor, the only deference is that Thor has golden shoulder-length hair, and is two inches taller. Loki also has emerald green eyes that stare into your soul, while his brothers have baby blue eyes like their father. They say Loki looks like his biological mother Laufy, a frost giantess with pure blood; those who look like the Aesir and Vanir. They say he inherited her kind of beauty. However Asgard does not see men with feminine features attractive.

"I'll consider it, meanwhile you should train baby brother, we do not want you making us look bad now, do we?" Sif sighs. She knows that tone. He is not happy with this event, and the only way for him to have fun, is to prank every single person attending. This well be a long tournament.

TBC

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I mixed some of the main Marvel universe with the Ultimate one, so I hope you didn't get confused or anything. Do you like it? Hate it? Review and let me know. If it's the style, format, grammar and way of speech; speak up. I'll continue this story if I have at least one review, because what's the point in writing if no one is reading no?


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